


(anything but) ordinary

by Carche



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, No beta we die like real heathens, One Shot, Permanent Injury, Plants, in all honesty it should be illegal for me to post on here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:20:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26657299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carche/pseuds/Carche
Summary: after an unfortunate accident, Ushijima’s left hand was no longer able to clutch a volleyball anymore.what was he without it, both his left hand and volleyball?surely, he was just ordinary.
Relationships: Tendou Satori/Ushijima Wakatoshi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 63





	(anything but) ordinary

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to another one of my sorry attempts at expressing my haikyuu thoughts that would work so much better as a fanart but i simply do not have the skills to do so, so they are in a shitty fic form ✨
> 
> also i wrote this after taking the sat so i am so sorry for the inconsistencies and errors in the writing, and just the overall garbage this ended up being💔

The blinding lights of the gym glared in Tendou's eyes, and warping black dots darted across his field of vision. Occasionally, what he thought was a volleyball coming at him at inhuman speed ended up being those same dots. And when it was actually a volleyball, Tendou let it slip through his fingers which hit him square in the face. Every time, Tendou just scrunched his nose in annoyance; but none of his usual banter was let out.

It wasn't a normal practice per se; Ushijima, Shiratorizawa's volleyball captain, was absent from the gym. And that very rarely happened. Everyone on the team knew that there was nothing but volleyball running through his brain. Without his presence, the gym was filled with an eerie and uncomfortable atmosphere. Not that Ushijima talked at all, but him being there always seemed to create a cozy environment.

"Hey coach, where's Ushijima??" Luckily, Goshiki had the guts to ask the small fury that was the Shiratorizawa volleyball coach. Everyone stopped what they were doing and the volleyballs all dropped to the ground with empty thwaps. They all turned their heads one by one like a flock of seagulls spotting a fish in the sea.

"He had something going on today, I'm not sure if he will stop by before practice ends."

The team shifted nervously, giving side-eyes to each other. None of them had the heart to say it, but they knew something was wrong. But they all left that thought hang in the dead air.

"Ok, we still have drills to finish," the coach coughed.

One last round of speaking though eye contact later, the team resumed their regular practice.

What was merely a single hour of practice left felt like an eternity for the entire team. The gym floor became a sluggish swamp; nobody was able to perform to the best of their abilities. Semi's sets never seemed to reach the spikers and on the occasion that they did, the spikers completely missed the ball. Tendou could feel the floor glue his feet to the ground, his blocks rendered useless as the ball whizzed completely past his fingertips.

This continued on for the entire afternoon.

"Good work today," the insincere phrase from the coach rang low in the gym. Despite them being off their game, they still sweat up a storm. A chorus of 'good work' replied back, equally as untruthful.

"Yo, the coach went easy on us today," Tendou lightly joked as they all headed to the locker room.

"Yeah, well obviously there's a reason why he didn't tear all of us into pieces," Shirabu kicked an abandoned shoe out of the way.

"Ushijima is always here."

"Do you think something serious happened?"

"By the way coach is acting? It's not all impossible." As if the air couldn't get any heavier, it did.

Semi cleared his throat as he removed his sticky uniform.

"Nevermind Ushijima, somebody has to pack up the nets in the gym," Semi threw his shirt in his bag and turned to give Tendou a sneaky smile. "Rock paper scissors?"

"Why me though?" Tendou whined, but he knew that Semi chose him to distract the team do that they wouldn't leave the gym uneasy from their captain's absence.

"Why not?" Semi put his fist up and shook it at Tendou. He gave in and aligned his fist to Semi's.

"Rock paper scissors!" Tendou put out a paper while Semi threw out a scissor.

"Yes!" Semi pumped his fist and swung his bag over his shoulder. He patted his hand on Tendou's back. "Thanks Tendou."

The entire team decided to follow Semi's lead and patted Tendou on the back when they all left through the door.

"Gee, thanks," Tendou called out the door. He quickly changed as well and gripped his duffel bag.

As he was the last to leave the locker room, Tendou was expected to lock up. He jangled the doorknob for an extra measure and looked back at the gym, the nets all taut at the rope. Tendou sighed and threw his bag against the wall with a sorry thwap.

Tendou got to work and got the first net down before his attention was diverted by some movement in the corner of his eye. His hands were wrapped around the volleyball pole, halfway done with dismantling the netting.

The coach was standing in the doorframe of the gym, obviously talking to someone. From the angle Tendou was positioned, he couldn't tell who it was. He snuck around the metal tube sticking out of the ground and stuck close to the wall. Somehow, the coach and the other person didn't spot him. Whether it was beneficial to him or not, he remained silent.

"Ushijima," the coach's voice was hard and coarse. Tendou's sneaking endeavors instantly ceased; their vanished captain was the other person at the door.

"I'm afraid there is nothing we can do about it then," Tendou watched as the coach gingerly cradled Ushijima's left hand. The star's main cannon was now covered with some white wrapping. The coach pitifully sighed and released the hand. "I am sorry things had to end this way." The coach walked past the double doors.

Tendou could hear the light taps of the coach's heels dissipating, but no movement from Ushijima was audible. He completely abandoned his duties of taking down the nets and walked the rest of the way to the entrance.

He got to the doors and peeked through. Ushijima stood still in front of the floor to ceiling poster featuring a full body picture of Ushijima himself. With his body angled and his eyes turned upward, the poster Ushijima was getting ready to jump and hit the ball into the opponent's court.

The purple and white-clad him.

Tendou studied the broad back of his captain. His shoulders were slightly rolled forward, and his whole being hunched over in seeming defeat. Never had he seen Ushijima stand like that. He always had his chest forward, ready to face whatever threatened his future.

Now, Ushijima seemed to shrink in the face of his own future. The future he now lost; that clean and vivid picture no longer seemed like him. The words 'Left-Handed Wonder!' stenciled across the wall loomed over him, taunting his already crushed figure.

Tendou simply watched him stand in front of the poster. He followed as Ushijima raised his left hand and briskly touched the crisp paper. Now in close proximity to Ushijima, Tendou was now able to make out the white thing covering his hand. A standard gauze wrapped around Ushijima's hand, immobilizing it to the extent of stopping any movement from the individual joints in the fingers.

With the way Ushijima raised his left hand, it seemed like he no longer grasped the certainty of purpose. Tendou's finger nudged the little latch on the pillar separating the double doors of the gym. It rolled and clanked, echoing through the hallway.

"Tendou," he tensed up out of shock as Ushijima didn't have to turn around to realize that it was him. "What do I do?"

"What?"

Ushijima didn't answer right away and let his left hand slip from the poster.

"What am I to do now." It was nothing out of bitterness and spite, none of that sort; just merely worn down. His spirit, that is.

Ushijima turned to face Tendou. Ushijima's mouth twitched for a split second. Tendou immediately picked up on his body language and stepped out of the door into the dark of the hallway.

"Is it that bad?" Ushijima just passed over a folded paper to Tendou. Confused, he flipped it open and skimmed the contents. Tendou's eyes flicked across the note, steadily growing bigger in disbelief.

"Oh my god." Ushijima could only nod. According to the slip of paper he now knew was a doctor's note, Ushijima's muscles and bones in his left hand were injured to a point where volleyball was no longer in the discussion. It was still usable for normal daily tasks, but spiking a sweat-covered ball in grueling tournaments was now a fleeting dream.

"Hold on, wait, you just got out of the hospital yesterday. You aren't in any state to be doing anything about the team. You should be resting or something."

"The doctor confirmed that I would no longer be able to participate in club activities. The injury would be torn even further if I were to continue volleyball."

Tendou knew that fact from reading through the note, but hearing it come from Ushijima seemed to solidify it in stone. "Shit."

Ushijima's facial features never drastically changed regardless of how he felt. But Tendou knew exceptionally well that whatever he couldn't say shown in his eyes.

"My left hand is my sole strength. The coach and my father tell me all the time." Those very words that constantly validated his difference now dug the same hole it spent the last decade filling. “Now I am nothing.”

“Your left hand isn’t the only thing that makes you special.”

“So what exactly are the other things you speak of?” Tendou couldn’t answer.

Not that his own statement wasn’t wrong, he just couldn’t think of any at that moment. To him, Ushijima was Ushijima. There was no rhyme or reason to it. Tendou had known him forever, and it just came to a point where certain things just exuded ‘Ushijima’ without much of a second thought. He just couldn’t list them off the top of his head.

"Tendou, I do not bring anything to the team now that my left hand is no longer usable. I do not have any other purpose. What am I supposed to do."

Again, Tendou couldn’t answer. Volleyball was one of the many things that screamed Ushijima, if not the most.

"I do not suppose you should finish up cleaning up the nets," Ushijima pointed back into the gym and Tendou quickly turned. His eyes had gotten used to the darkness of the hallway, so the lights blinded his eyes. He rapidly blinked as the yellow circles' beams died down.

"Yeah, I better do that."

Ushijima leaned in the doorframe, watching Tendou finish up folding the nets. Tendou would've asked him to help since it was a super annoying task, but of course, it was a just matter of inability to do so. His fingers fumbled around the tethers of the net, subconsciously trying to complete it faster since he had Ushijima waiting for him.

.

.

Tendou scowled at the rugged clouds rumbling above them. The cold droplets were pelting on his jacket, and he didn’t have much underneath aside from a simple shirt. He glanced over to Ushijima. His hand was outstretched beyond where the overhanging canopy protected them from the rain. Tendou cringed as the rain soaked into the white bandages on Ushijima's hand.

A neutral calm overshadowed Ushijima's face and the stress lines creased across his forehead disappeared. The very stress lines that seemed permanent on Ushijima, seeing as his entire volleyball career basically collapsed in front of him. The sudden peaceful expression on his face puzzled Tendou.

“The plants would love this.”

“Plants?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I don’t suppose you are gonna tell me more about the plants right?”

“I have many plants in my home.”

"Do you now?" Tendou's gaze remained fixed on Ushijima. And in the absence of thunder, an idea in the form of lightning struck Tendou. "Can I come over and see the plants?"

"I do not see why not. My home is very close."

"Perfect! The rain won't wait for us though," Tendou took Ushijima's right hand and pulled him out from underneath the overhang and started running.

.

.

"So, when you said you had many plants, you didn't lie," Tendou sputtered. They had arrived at Ushijima's home and immediately was met with a faux forest. He and Ushijima were only in the foyer and he could count at least five tall potted plants along with a few odd bowls hosting something that looked like green spiders.

"I have no reason to ever lie to you, Tendou." Ushijima pulled his shoes off and placed them neatly in the small cabinet. He pointed to an empty space beside them, and Tendou took that as an implication that he should put his own shoes there.

Tendou followed in Ushijima's footsteps, seeing as it was the only way to get around the place. Terra cotta pots were littered everywhere, and no matter what direction he turned, Tendou was met face to face with a different plant. And much like an overgrown jungle, the placement of the greenery was chaotic. And for some unknown reason, the inside of the house smelled more fresh and clean than outside. Almost as if he was in an actual jungle.

"So, why are all these plants in random places?" Tendou said while almost stepping on a pot.

"They are all strategically placed. Some need more sunlight than others," Ushijima said as if it was simply common sense. Tendou hummed in response, his interest now placed on this weird spiky plant hanging from the ceiling.

"What is this?" Tendou pointed to the pot whose plant spilled off the side of it.

"That is called a string-of-pearls plant." More than pearls, they looked like round peas to Tendou.

"You have so many plants," Tendou marveled. "How did this happen?"

"I saw a few poor plants in the Home Depot gardening section. One had oversaturated soil and the other was completely dry. So I took them home. And then another. And another."

It didn't take a genius to decipher the look in Ushijima's eyes. So proud and gentle, Tendou would've thought Ushijima was holding a volleyball, moments away from scoring a service ace. But instead of a volleyball, the back of his left hand caressed the biggest leaf of a ruby red plant. Shortly after, Ushijima retired on his couch.

“You have a wonderful green thumb. Those plants would have definitely died in the Home Depot plant section if it weren’t for you saving them,” Tendou laughed. He traced the bumpy edge of an aloe plant on the table. Once reaching the tip of the leaf, he let his hand drop.

“But taking care of plants isn’t anything to be applauded for.” Tendou turned to Ushijima on the couch and tenderly smiled. He glided over to the empty space next to Ushijima. It was by his side that Tendou knew the best.

The cushion dipped under Tendou’s weight and he leaned into Ushijima’s chest. A droplet dripped onto Tendou’s cheek, and he looked up to see Ushijima’s still wet hair.

"But to do it with such care and skill is very impressive," Tendou reached up to a thick strand of Ushijima’s bangs, the hair clumped together from the rain. "Maybe you should be known as Ushijima the plant carer," he let out a soft giggle.

"But it does not make me special in any sort of way."

“Wakatoshi,” Tendou murmured, caressing his fingers in Ushijima’s still damp hair.

“You see,” his fingernail parted the long strand and a single sphere of water dribbled off its end. It trailed down Tendou’s index finger, leaving behind a thin line of watery bumps. He examined his hand for a second before gingerly clasping it in Ushijima’s right hand. "What makes you special isn't always something extraordinary you bring to the table. But don't get me wrong, that does make you, well, you, but there is more to someone than just what we see on the surface."

"But that's what people see, Tendou."

Tendou's eyebrows creased inwards, and both that and his eyes turned into crescents. "People see me as a scary monster. Someone who shouldn't be called human. What do you think of me?"

"Well, they are wrong. You are very much a human. And are not scary in the very slightest."

The pitter-pattering of the rain rang with a constant rhythm against the windows. The dark clouds brought upon a comforting inky blanket in the room. The silky silhouettes pranced around the room, dancing with the potted plants.

Tendou fitted himself closer to Ushijima and tucked his knees close to his chin. "See? And just the same, you aren't just volleyball. Not just your left hand."

"But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, people only know you for your left hand. But that doesn't mean that that's the only thing that makes you unique."

Tendou let his gaze flit over to the hastily covered balcony doors. The curtains grazed and crumpled on the lips of a few pots, the ends slightly speckled with dirt and water. He let his eyes focus on a singular water droplet on the glass which clung on as high as it could. Unfortunately, gravity was a thing, and the drop slinked down steadily getting faster as it brought other droplets down with it.

"You asked what you were to do, now that you no longer are able to play volleyball. That you are no longer any good to anyone because you think that all you have to offer is your left hand's strength. That you are no longer special. Ordinary even."

"Yes, that seems to be the case."

"But have you ever thought about other things that make you special other than your left hand?" Ushijima flexed what he could with his left hand. To Tendou, it just looked like it twitched at a low frequency.

"But it is the only thing that makes me unique."

"Define what being unique is for me, why don't you."

"When someone's ability to do a certain thing is above the rest." Tendou scrunched his nose.

"That, is very much wrong, Waka. That's, um," Tendou tilted his head to the side as if racking his brain was going to help him form the word he was thinking of. "You know what, I can't think of the word. But that doesn't matter." Tendou waved his hand in the air. "Ok now define what ordinary is."

Ushijima frowned but nonetheless answered Tendou's roulette of questions. "When something is average and not impressive."

"Well, then the word 'ordinary' definitely doesn't apply to you. Look around," Tendou traced an imaginary line going through all of the potted plants surrounding them. "I think this is impressive. You keep blindsiding yourself that these things are all boring and just not worthy. I mean, who else would save plants and care for them as you do?"

Tendou shifted in the couch and angled his ear against Ushijima's chest, hearing the steady but rapid pace of the other's heart.

"And this side of you isn't the only one. There are many more sides of you that are just as interesting. You just don't give yourself enough credit."

“But Tendou, I am not following. The whole conversation does not make any sense. There is little to no correlation between anything you brought up.”

”Ok, well take what I say with a grain of salt,” Tendou huffed, “all I’m saying is that your identity isn’t limited to your left hand in volleyball. There is so much more to you than just that.”

A smile instilled itself onto Tendou's face and he drew in a breath. He let his fingers trace over the palm lines on Ushijima's right hand. “After all, you’re anything but ordinary.”


End file.
